Saturday, February 25, 2017

What was it like in the 70s?

What was it like in the 70s? Well let me tell you!

In the 70s, there was a lot of folk music, singer/songwriter type of music around my house. Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, leftover Beatles albums, Fleetwood Mac, Simon and Garfunkel— that was the background of my 70s life. The homes were decorated in browns, oranges, olive greens and golds. The decor was so ugly in that decade! Lots of shag carpeting, the whole thing. People didn’t really know that much about nutrition, so for dinner we ate canned vegetables, things like Hamburger Helper and other “mix” dinners, drank “Tang” in the morning (sugar water) and ate cereal that was straight sugar.

We were always in the sun, and instead of sun screen, people wore tanning oil, to get even more tan. Little kids were always playing in the front yard, running through the neighborhoods. We never wore seatbelts in cars. If your parents stopped the car too hard or turned a corner too quickly, you went flying. No helmets when you rode a bike- if you fell off too hard, you would crack your teeth or even your head. Most of the time, kids just got really scraped up; lots of cuts and gashes and bandages. But you still got back up and kept going. When we got sick, we rarely if ever, were given antibiotics or even brought to a doctor. We had to lay in bed and wait it out.

What else…there were no computers or cell phones of course— and no GPS, so if your parents wanted to take the fam on a trip, they had to get out a map and look at the map to figure out where they were going. Everyone had a “Thomas Guide” in their care (a book of maps). Every house had one phone, attached to the wall, and if someone called your house to talk to you, they had to talk to your mother first and ask if you could talk. Then your mother would say either yes, or no, and call you to the phone if needed.